AN  ORATION 

DELIVERED  U  THE  iftETnODIST  EFISCOriL  CDURCH; 

WILMINGTON,  N.  C, 

BY 

JOSHUA  G.  WRIGHT,  Esq.. 

on  THS 

FOVRTH  OF  JCLY;  A.  D.  1851. 


PRINTED  AT  THE  ''HERALD^^  BOOK  AND  JOB  OFriCK- 


WILMINGTON,  N,  C, 


Geo?^ge  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 
FAMILY  OF 
COLONEL  FLOWERS 


P^pWet  Collection 
like  Univcr«ty  Ubraiy 


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WfLMiNOTON,  N.  C,  June  5th,  1851. 
Dear  Sir: — At  a  meeting  of  the  "  Committee  of  Arrangements"  for  the  next  4th  July, 
your  name  was  presented,  and  you  were  unanimously  selected  as  the  •«  Orator"  for  th« 
•ccasion. 

In  making  this  appointment,  the  Committee  are  aware  that  they  have  departed  from 
the  usual  course  on  such  occasions.  Hitherto,  we  have  been  accustomed  te  listen  to 
words  from  more  youthful  lips  ;  and  it  was  pleasant,  as  well  as  profitable  thus  to  be  re- 
minded of  the  glory  of  the  past  and  of  our  bright  prospects  for  th«  future.  But  those 
prospects  are  now  clouded — the  condition  of  the  Country  is  such  as  to  excite  the  anxiety 
of  all  good  men;  and  the  citizens  of  Wilmington  are  desirous  of  listening  to  older  and 
more  experienced  counsels.  The  Committee  believe  that  there  is  no  one  else,  through 
whom  this  unanimous  desire  of  the  citizens  can  be  more  fully  met ;  and  they  cannot  but 
ludulge  the  hope  that,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  you  will  accede  to  their  request, 
I  beg  to  add  my  personal  solicitations  to  those  of  the  committee. 

Most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROB'T  H.  COWAN", 

To  Joshua  G.  Wright,  Esq. 


Wilmington,  N.  C,  June  6th,  185L 
Dear  Sir : — Your  communication  informing  me  that  I  had  been  selected  to  deliver  an 
Oration  on  the  ensuing  4th  of  July, has  been  received.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  I 
should  certainly  decline  the  honor  which  has  been  tendered  me,  but  in  responding  to 
your  solicitaiion  my  action  his  been  controlled  by  the  existing  crisis  in  the  condition  of 
the  country,  and  my  disinclination  to  lalier  in  the  discharge  of  any  duty  which  her  inte«« 
rets's  may  seem  to  require. 

1'here  is  emphatic  truth  in  your  remark  that  her  "prospects  are  now  clouded,"  and 
though  I  tcel  thai  I  ca;i  but  inadequately  answer  the  appeal  which  patrioti-m  at  such  a 
lime  makes  lo  every  citizen  of  the  Kepublic,  still  to  the  extent  of  my  ability,  I  am  ready 
for  the  call. 

I  beg  that  you  will  convey  to  the  Committee  my  thanks  for  the  appointment  which  they 
have  confeired,  and  permit  me  to  express  my  sense  ot  obligation  to  you,  for  the  kin 
x«rms  in  which,  as  its  organ,  you  have  addressed  me. 

Wit.i  the  highest  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSaUA  G.  WRIGHT. 

To  R.  H.  Cowan,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  Committee. 


WiLMiNOTON,  N.  C,  July  5lh,  1861. 

My  Dear  Sir: — We  have  been  instructed  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements'*  lo 
ten<le»  their  thanks  for  the  highly  eloquent  and  able  Address  delivered  by  you  on  the 
morning  of  the  4th  inst ;  and  to  reque-ft  a  capy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

1  i  coiumuni  .-ating  thes^e  insiructi  )ns,  we  beg  to  express  our  entire  concurrence  with  you, 
in  your  .-^entim'^ntH  upon  the  qucaiions  at  issue  hctweeu  ti^e  Xorth  an  l  the  South.  Espe- 
cially in  'hose,  vvaich  relate  to  our  duty  towards  the  J^tate  of  lr<oulh  Carolina.  We  biv 
H<=ve  that  those  sen' iinonts  will  |>a  cordially  recrived,  and  heartily  rc-ponded  to  by  the 
^jreat  majority  of  the  ci'.iiensof  Wilmington  ;  aui  we  trust  that  you  will  permit  them  to 


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be  pfaeed  before  that  very  large  portion  who  were  prevented  by  the  crowded  state  of  the 

Ckurch,fiom  bearing  the  address. 

With  high  respect,  your  obedient  servants, 

ROB'T  H.  COWAN. 
JAS.  F.  McREE, 
WM.  C.  HOWARD 

To  J.  G.  Weight,  Esq. 


Wilmington,  N.  C,  July  5th,  I8!il. 

Gentlemen  : — Yonr  note  soliciting  a  copy  of  my  Address  for  publication  has  just  reach- 
ed me.  Prepared  «s  it  was  at  your  request,  I  feel  that  you  have  measurably  a  ri^ht  of 
property  in  it.  and  though  your  estimate  of  its  merits  may  be  much  too  hi^h,  still  I  do  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  withhold  my  acquiescence  in  the  wish  expressed  by  you. 

You  will  please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  flattering  opinion  you  have  expressed  of  it, 
and  believe  me, 

Very  truly, your  friend  and  servant, 

JOSHUA  G.  WRIGHT. 
To  Mewni.  R.  H.  Cowaw,  J.  F.  McReb  and  W.  U.  Howard,  Committee, 


Friends  and  Freemen  : 

I  come  to  greet  you,  on  this  proud  day  of  American 
Independence.  The  revolution  of  another  year  has  given 
it  another  and  a  higher  mark  in  the  calendar  of  time,  and 
now  as  ever,  we  hail  its  advent  with  patriotic  pride  and 
joy.  It  is  the  Sabbath  day  of  Freedom  which  has  come 
again  to  bless  our  land,  and  with  reverent  patriotism  we 
are  here  to  hallow  its  return.  Nor  is  it  only  here,  but 
■every  where  throughout  our  wide  domain,  on  this  our  an- 
nual anniversary  the  national  heart  beats  vvith  a  quicker 
throb  and  responsive  to  the  emotion  the  national  voice  is 
heard  in  its  loudest  and  loftiest  anthems  of  liberty.  But 
let  us  not  dishonor  the  <Bccasion,  or  attempt  to  limit  its  il- 
limitable influence,  by  restricting  its  importance  to  the 
narrow  confines  of  our  country.  From  the  day  that  it  first 
stood  forth  in  commanding  .dignity  before  the  world,  it  has 
belonged  to  the  world,  and  though  peculiarly  consecrated 
to  American  feeling,  still  its  glory  has  gone  abroad  through- 
out the  universe.  It  was  to  us  the  great  day  of  deliver- 
ance, and  therefore  is  it,  that  like  the  Passover  of  God  s 
own  people  we  have  set  it  apart  from  every  other  day  in 
the  sun's  whole  course/'  Anxious  to  pajT-  it  appropriate 
homage,  we  have  come  up  hither  to  mingle  in  the  minis- 
trations of  a  pure  patriotism,  and  to  bring  anew  our  obla- 
tions to  its  altar.  The  crowded  mart,  but  yesterday  so 
thronged  with  the  busy  sons  of  commerce,  is  this  da} 
hushed — fee-Tnrrdy  sons  of  toil  forbear  their  wonted  work 
— the  scholar  turns  from  tlie  lettered  labor  of  his:  life — 


I 

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Tind  e'en  the  bower  of  beauty  is  deserted,  in  order  that  its 
fair  (inhabitant  may  lend  the  ornament  of  her  presence,  to 
this  great  gala  day  of  Freedom. 

And  well  does  it  become  us,  thus  to  signalize  this  great 
epoch  in  American  history.  It  may  be  that  it  needs  no 
such  commemoration  but  it  deserves  it.  It  cannot  be  that 
we  can  ever  grow  forgetful  of  the  deeds  of  those  whoso 
memories  should  be  itiurned  in  our  hearts,  but  filial  grati- 
tude to  our  fathers,  demands  that  we  should  in  some  signal 
way  mark  our  appreciation  of  the  greit  work  wrought  by 
them  for  their  chddren.  Full  well  did  they  know  the 
perilous  hazards  they  i.icurred,  'vhen  reso:vin<^  to  be  free> 
they  sent  forth  their  bold  Declaration  of  Independence 
like  a  trump^^t  note  of  defiance  to  the  oppressor.  But 
through  the  gloom,  they  saw  the  glory,  and  their  souls 
exulted  as  in  prophetic  vision  they  beheld  the  blessings 
that  their  ultunaie  triumph  w^ould  secure  to  posterity. — 
When  looked  the  world  upon  such  a  scene  as  that  of  our 
fathers,  as  in  high  debate,  they  argued  out  the  question  of 
Independence  for  their  country,  and  more  than  all,  when 
they  closed  and  crowned  the  argument  by  the  adoption  of 
that  great  measure  which  may  well  be  styled  the  very 
creed  of  liberty.  Nor  classic  Greece,  nor  imperial  Home 
in  their  palmiest  day  can  parallel  the  sublime  heroism  of 
that  band  of  sages  then  convened.  For  ages  had  the 
rights  of  man  been  the  very  scorn  and  scotf  of  tyranny, — 
long  had  the  deep  darkness  of  despair  rested  upon  the  po- 
litical heavens,  and  Ihougli  he  e  and  there  a.  star  gleamed 
out,  they  were  the  stars  of  an  appalling  night. 

At  length  the  light  of  our  great  example  broke  upon  the 
world,  and  as  at  creation's  morn,  th?  fi  ^t  of  Omnipotence 
went  forth  "  Let  there  be  hght"  and  all  earth  grew  glad 
beneath  the  quick  descending  radiance,  so  did  the  bright- 
ness of  that  flame  of  lil)erty  kindled  by  our  fathers  in 
this  Western  iienusphere,  spread  abroad  to  gladden  the 


7 


suffering  millioiis  of  mankind.  Like  the  pillar  of  fire  by 
night,  which  blazed  out  for  the  escape  of  the  Hebrew  host, 
it  pointed  us  the  way  of  deHveran(  e  from  our  enslavement, 
and  beneath  its  clear  light  we  read,  and  the  world  with  us, 
those  axioms  of  liberty  enshrined  in  that  great  State  Pa- 
per, which  in  its  recital  of  our  wTongs  furnished  the 
amplest  vindication  of  our  rights.  Englishmen  l)oast 
their  Magna  Charta,  won  by  the  bold  Barons  of  Runny- 
msde  from  a  tyrant  King,  but  with  how  much  prouder  tri- 
umph should  Americans  point  to  that  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, which  first  spoke  this  great  land  of  ours  into 
existence  as  a  nation  among  the  powers  of  the  earih.  As 
loyal  subjects,  often  had  we  sent  up  the  prayerful  petition 
to  the  throne,  but  the  voice  of  supplication  fell  u:»heeded 
on  the  inexorable  ear  of  tyranny.  As  indignant  freemen, 
often  had  we  thundered  out  the  bold  remonstrance  against 
the  aggressions  of  royalty,  but  in  taunting  tones  the  an- 
swer came  back  to  us  that  our  claims  for  redress  were  but 
the  clamor  of  rebellion.  '1  hus  trifled  with  and  trampled 
on — with  every  avenue  to  ch  mency  closed  against  us,  we 
turned  from  an  English  Parliament  to  an  American  Gon- 
gress,  nor  was  it  long  ere  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the  Ameri- 
can Cicero  as  he  was  styled,  moved  that  great  measure  of 
Independence  which  was  so  gloriously  sustained  by  his 
brave  compeers  in  council,  and  which  eventuated  in  the 
Declaration  that  the  "  United  Colonies  were  and  of  right 
ought  to  be  Free  and  Independent  States.'' 

And  now  came  *'  the  tug  of  war."  Nor  should  we  ever 
€31  the  return  of  this  memorable  anniversary,  fail  to  offer 
the  passing  tribute  of  our  regard  to  those  brave  spirits  who 
vyhen  the  day  of  debate  was  over,  at  once  sought  the  field 
of  many  a  bloody  fight,  to  champion  the  cause  of  our 
country.  Would  that  with  the  hand  of  a  skilful  minstrel, 
I  €ould  so  touch  "the  harp  of  this  celebration,"  as  to  tune 
its  strings  to  strains  of  richest  melody  in  honor  of  thos^ 


8 


^vhose  deeds  have  made  the  day«  of  our  Kevolution  em- 
phatically the  heroic  age  of  our  land.    The  story  of  their 
sufferings  and  their  heroism  has  been  often  told,  but 
should  never  be  forgotten.    We  owe  it  to  them,  to  our- 
selves, and  to  our  children,  to  cherish  the  recollection  of 
their  achievements,  and  to  keep  bright  the  escutcheon  of 
their  fame,    "  Think  of  your  forefathers  and  of  your  pos- 
terity." was  the  exhortation  of  Galgacus  of  Britain,  when 
leading  on  his  followers  against  the  invading  legions  of 
Rome,  and  well  may  we  adopt  the  sentiment  of  the  barba- 
rian chief,  towards  the  heroes  of  our  revolutionary  strug- 
gle.   In  the  commemorative  recollection  of  them,  we  not 
•only  discharge  a  pious  duty  to  the  dead,  but  also  do  much 
to  perpetuate  in  the  living,  that  spirit  which  shall  prompt 
them^to  emulate  the  deeds  of  those  who  have  done  so  much 
for  us  and  for  the  world.    From  the  day  that  the  alarum  of 
liberty  was  first  sounded  on  the  field  of  Lexington,  to  that 
■on  which  the  proud  hurrah  of  victory  was  heard  upon  the 
still  more  memorable  plains  of  York  Town,  it  was  clear  to 
cver}^  discerning  eye,  that  the  American  heart  was  fixed  in 
invincible  revolt  ao^ainst  that  alleo^iance  which  it  had  so 
long  confessed  and  felt.    And  when  at  length  the  behest 
of  the  nation  was  heard  in  the  call  to  arms,  Pallas  like, 
America  stepped  forth  in  all  the  panoply  of  war. 

For  seven  long  years,  with  chequered  fortune,  we  fought 
the  good  fight  of  a  righteous  cause — a  cause  which  the  ar- 
gument of  words  having  been  found  too  feeble  to  defend, 
was  committed  to  the  sterner  argument  of  the  ball  and 
the  bayonet,  on  the  fi^ld.  Guarded  by  that  God  who  rules 
the  destinies  of  men  and  nations,  we  triumphed,  and  with 
as  too  will  triumph  all  the  subjugated  sons  of  earth.  Al- 
ready, like  eager  Pilgrims,  do  they  press  to  our  land  as  to 
the  Mecca  of  Freedom — already  has  nation  after  nation 
broken  its  yoke  of  bondage,  and  long  since  has  the  prophe- 
ry  of  ihr  poc^t.  so  beautifully  descriptive  of  the  anticipated 


9 


emancipation  of  the  old  world,  become  in  many  cases  the 

recorded  truth  of  history. 

»/ 

I  saw  the  expecting  regions  stand, 

To  catch  the  coming  flame  in  turn, 
I  saw  from  ready  hand  to  hand, 

The  bright  but, [struggling  glory  burn. 

And  each  as  she  received  the  flame, 

Lighted  her  altar  with  its  ray, 
Theri__smiling  to  the  next  who  cams, 

Speeded  it  on  its  sparkling  way."' 

And  is  it  not  a  source  of  joyous  satisfaction  for  us  to 
know  that  we  are  of  lineage  with  those  who  first  struck 
that  blow  for  liberty  in  this  new  world,  which  has  been  felt 
to  the  remotest  borders  of  that  old  world  from  which  our 
fathers  came.    Should  it  not  swell  your  hearts  with  exul- 
tation, men  of  North  Carolina,  to  remember  that  the  first 
high  note  w^hich  was  heard  for  Independence  in  the  days 
of  our  Colonial  vassalage,  w^as  sounded  within  the  confines 
of  your  own  brave  commonwealth.    To  the  bold  spirits  of 
Mecklenburg  belongs  the  imperishable  glory  of  declaring 
themselves,  in  May,  1775,  a  free  and  independent  people, 
subject  to  no  power  but  their  God  and  the  General 
Government  of  Congress,  to  the  maintenance  of  which 
independence,  they  solemnly  pledged  to  each  other  their 
mutual  co-operation,  their  lives,  their  fortunes  and  their 
most  sacred  honor."    Nor  is  this  all.    Turn  to  the  Jour- 
nal of  the  Provincial  Concrress  of  North  Carolina,  assem- 
bled  at  Halifax,  in  April,  1776,  and  you  will  there  find  the 
Jlrst  legislative  recommendation  of  a  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence by  the  Continental  Congress,  that  was  made  on 
the  Continent  of  America.    These  are  pioud  memorials 
of  the  past,  hung  up  in  history,  where  all  the  world  may 
read  them,  and  learn  from  them,  that  as  our  fathers  were 
no  laggards  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  so  never  will  their 
sons  dishonor  such  sires,  by  submitting  to  aggression  on 
their  rights,  come  when  or  whence  it  may. 


10 


Stciiidiiig  as  we  do  at  so  roiiiote  a  distanct'  from  llie  day 
of  our  national  thraldom,  and  encompassed  with  so  many- 
blessings  which  a  munificent  Providence  has  lavished  up- 
on us,  I  fear  that  we  far  too  inadequately  appreciate  the 
merits  of  those  whose  labors  have  secured  to  us  the  vast 
and  various  good  wc  now  er\]oj.  Indeed  it  is  no  easy  thing 
for  a  people  rejoicing  in  the  plenitude  of  such  prosperity 
as  now  gladdens  our  land,  to  realize  aright  its  condition  du- 
ring that  long  night  of  misrule,  which  once  brooded  over 
its  happiness  and  its  hopes.  History  may  narrate  and  ima- 
gination lend  its  aid  to  the  page  which  speaks  of  that 
eventful  period,  and  yet  how  little  can  we  know  of  the  he- 
roic deeds  and  still  more  heroic  sufferings  of  those  lion- 
hearted  men  who  launched  out  so  boldly  on  all  the  varie- 
ties of  an  untried  being.  Regardless  of  all  consequences, 
they  threw^  themselves  upon  the  waves  of  war  which  rolled 
over  our  land,  and  with  "hearts  of  controversy"  breasted  eve- 
ry surge  that  threatened  to  ingulf  them.  Let  us  then  on  this 
day,  under  the  auspices  of  which  they  won  their  trophies, 
take  due  care  that  we  prove  not  forgetful  of  their  memory, 
and  though  no  sound  can  aw^ake  them  to  glory  again." 
still  let  us  never  fail  to  hand  down  the  sacred  traditions  of 
their  fame  to  each  succeeding  generation  that  may  live 
after  them, 

To  the  sages  who  spoke — to  the  heroes  who  bled — 

To  the  day  and  the  deed,  strike  the  harp-strings  of  glory; 
Let  the  song  of  the  ransonrd  remember  the  dead, 
And  the  tongue  of  the  eloquent  hallow  the  story." 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  blazon  the  glories  of  the  past. 
Time  would  fail  me,  to  tell  the  chivalrous  stoiy  of  the  feats 
of  arms  performed  by  the  men  of  our  revolutionary  contest. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should  here  rehearse  it,  or  mar 
shal  again  the  shadowy  ranks  of  the  dead^  while  the  fields 
of  their  fame  are  all  before  you.  Monmouth  and  York, 
Eutaw  and  Saratoga,  still  consecrate  our  land,  while  with- 


11 


in  your  very  i^nze  ;is  it  were,  your  own  Kiii^-\s  iMouutaiii 
still  stands  in  all  the  majesty  of  nature,  as  one  of  the  proud- 
est monuments  of  their  valor.  In  the  annals  of  your 
country's  history  you  will  find  the  record  of  those  sufferings 
and  achievements  about  which  I  have  said  but  little, 
though  1  could  not  with  my  sense  of  the  proprieties  due  to 
this  day,  have  said  less. 

But  though  the  Congress  of  '76  had  proclaimed  our  In- 
dependence, and  though  our  fathers  in  passing  through  the 
fierv  ordeal  of  the  war  which  follcAved,  had  so  gloriously 
secured  our  liberties,  there  yet  remained  an  arduous  and 
perilous  task  for  the  sages  of  our  country  to  accomplish. 
From  the  bondage  of  our  political  condition  we  had  as- 
cended to  a  proud  position  among  the  powers  of  the  earth, 
but  even  then  from  the  summit  of  our  political  Pisgah,  we 
w^ere  only  permitted  to  look  out  upon  that  land  of  promise 
which  the  prospect  disclosed  to  our  view.  The  truths  an- 
nounced in  that  great  manifesto  of  freedom  which  we  had 
sent  forth  to  the  world  were  recoo^iiized,  and  to  that  recoo^- 
nilion  the  sign  manual  of  King  George  had  been  given, 
but  for  those  who  had  so  triumphed  over  the  reluctant 
Monarch,  there  was  as  yet  no  government.  What  was  to 
be  the  future  character  of  our  national  existence  was  the 
great  problem  presented  for  solution.  Successful  against 
foreign  aggression,  how  were  we  to  protect  ourselves  from 
those  internal  elements  of  discord  and  disaster  so  rife 
among  every  people,  and  only  the  more  likely  to  exist 
among  us,  on  account  of  those  free  principles  which  per- 
vaded our  land. 

These  were  grave  questions  and  great  were  the  difficul- 
ties which  attended  a  practical  answer.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  furnish  that  answ^er  in  the  creation  of  a  league  of 
friendship  between  confederate  and  independent  States, 
and  in  the  constitution  of  a  Congress,  whose  authority 
should  be  co-extensive  with  tlie  liMiits  of  \hr  N-aWou.  But 


so  restricled  were  its  powers,  or  rather  so  entirely  destitute 
was  it  of  all  executive  power,  that  the  body  politic  exhaust- 
ed as  it  was  by  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  still  more 
enfeebled  as  it  was  by  the  impotence  of  the  new  confede- 
racy, languished  at  the  point  of  dissolution.  At  this  pe- 
rilous crisis  in  the  history  of  our  country,  the  memorable 
Congress  of  '87  convened  in  Philadelphia,  and  after  near 
four  months  of  anxious  deliberation  by  an  assembly  of  de- 
voted patriotism  and  distinguished  statesmanship,  they 
presented  to  the  country  for  its  adoption,  that  miodel  polity, 
bearing  on  its  front  this  inscription:  "We,  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union, 
establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare  and  se- 
cure the  blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posteri- 
ty, do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America." 

Hence  came  that  Union  which  was  born  of  the  constitu- 
ent sovereignty  of  the  people — which  has  so  long  stood  the 
test  of  time,  and  beneath  the  broad  banner  ot  which  we 
have  so  long  lived  and  prospered.  It  matters  but  little 
now  what  were  the  impediments  which  first  checked  its 
formation,  nor  shall  I  usurp  the  office  of  the  historian  by 
the  labored  recital  of  them.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  ex- 
isting social  institutions  of  the  country — the  chartered 
rights  so  dear  to  many  of  the  Colonies,  and  more  than  all 
the  State  sovereignties  content  with  their  own  political 
condition  and  jealous  of  a  superior  sovereign,— none  more 
so  than  your  own  North  Carolina — together  with  the  great 
diversities  of  interest,  opinions  and  habits  then  prevailing, 
seemed  to  forbid  the  hope  of  success  in  the  formation  of  a 
government  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  country,  and 
comprehensive  as  the  country  itself.  Despite  all  these  ob- 
stacles, however,  it  triumphed, — those  States  that  had  gone 
so  glorioiislv  too^ether  through  thr  wnr  of  the  Eevohition. 


rallied  around  it — the  Anierican  Itcpublic:  \v;ls  roiii[)K'te, 
and  as  it  stood  out  iii  all  its  lovely  grandeur  before  the  vis- 
ion of  the  victims  of  tja-anny,  was  to  them  like  the  "  Holy 
City  coming  down  from  God,  out  of  Heaven,  beautiful  as 
a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband." 

Here  was  a  new  era  in  the  science  of  government,  and 
truly  a  benign  one  for  the  oppressed  of  every  land.  To 
us  was  it  permitted  first  to  announce  to  the  world  the  capa- 
city of  man  for  self-government,  and  fortunate  was  it  for 
the  practical  exemplification  of  the  truth  of  the  an- 
nouncement, that  in  the  inception  of  our  experiment,  we 
were  blessed  with  the  presence  and  principles  of  those  who 
had  been  actively  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of  our 
Union.  JNor  was  this  all,  the  spirit  of  the  compact  was 
the  very  life  of  the  government,  and  the  political  associa- 
tion  which  had  been  formed,  was  everywhere  sustained 
and  strengthened  by  a  unity  of  feeling  which  gave  the 
best  guaranty  of  its  stability  and  success. 

Would  to  God  that  a  kindred  sympathy  of  sentiment 
was  now  diffused  through  our  land..  Alas,  however,  for 
the  perfectibility  of  all  things  human,  those  cheering  au- 
guries which  attended  the  first  movement  of  our  Nation 
on  its  high  career,  and  which  were  so  auspiciously  fulfilled 
in  its  subsequent  progress,  seem  now  about  to  fail  us.  A 
cloud  of  fearful  aspect  has  thrown  its  darkness  across  tliat 
halcyon  heaven,  in  the  blessed  sunlight  of  which,  we  had 
hoped  forever  to  rejoice  and  live.  That  Union  which  was 
based  upon  foundations  so  deep,  and  upborne  by  pillars  so 
strong,  that  we  fondly  thought  it  might  defy  all  ''the  waves 
and  weathers  of  time,"  seems  now  to  the  eye  of  many  to 
totter — perchance  to  its  fall. 

And  whence  this  danger  /  In  tlie  perpetration  of  an 
unprovoked  and  unremitted  sectional  wrong  you  will  find 
an  answer.    I'^niaticisrn  irnrbed  :is  nn  aiioe!   of  liii;]it.  but 


14 


with  all  tlie  iiistiacts  of  a  deiiiou  of  darkness,  (iirectiiig 
her  movements,  nov/  walks  through  the  land  and  upon  the 
feelings,  the  riglits,  the  interests,  and  it  may  be  the  exis- 
tence of  the  South,  is  waging  a  war  of  invasion  which  if 
not  atrested,  may  become  a  war  of  destruction.  The  truth, 
mournful  as  it  is,  can  no  longer  be  disguised,  that  porten- 
tous danger  overhangs  the  Republic,  and  that  the  blow 
wdiich  threatens  its  demolition  is  to  be  wreaked  on  the  un- 
offending South. 

A  great  and  growing  portion  of  tlie  North  and  other  re- 
gions where  a  congenial  sympathy  prevails,  repudiating 
the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  forgetful  of  the  moral  obli- 
gation wiiicli  binds  their  conscience  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  country,  have  enlisted  in  a  crusade  against  that  institu- 
tion,  to  the  inheritance  of  which  you  were  born,  and  by 
the  subversion  oi  which  you  must  perish — an  institution 
which  has  existed  under  the  divine  government,  from  the 
earliest  antiquity,  and  which  was  sanctioned  by  thai  Sa- 
viour of  mankind  who  feared  not  boldly  to  rebuke  alike 
Sadducee  and  Pharisee,  but  from  whose  hallovv'ed  lips  there 
never  came  a  word  of  denunciation  against  slavery.  An 
institution  which  has  been  the  handmaid  of  civilization  in 
all  ages  and  well  nigh  all  nations,  which,  in  fine,  Vv'hen  re- 
ligiously considered,  is  altogether  defensible,  and  which 
when  viewed  as  a  question  of  political  economy,  involving 
the  interests  of  the  master  and  the  slave,  is  nothing  less  to 
us,  than  a  political  necessity. 

Against  it,  the  aggressive  morality  of  the  North  has 
been  long  directed,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should  here 
expose  the  spurious  philanthropy,  or  analyze  the  ethics  of 
those,  whose  theory  is  a  repudiation  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  of  their  God.  It  is  enouQ-h  for  me  to  know 
that  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  homes  are  invaded  by 
this  pestilent  horde — that  tlie  serpents  of  Fanaticism  are 
upon  us,  and  tliat  like  Laocoon  of  old,  we  shall  be  cruslied 


If) 

to  our  rum,  unless  we  break  free  Ibrevcr  from  their  eora- 
plicated  folds. 

Tell  me  not  that  political  abolition  is  the  blown  bubble 
of  tinthinking  folly,  and  soon  will  burst— the  mere  ephe- 
meron  of  a  day,  that  will  soon  live  out  its  brief  existence 
and  then  sleep  forever — much  too  insignificant  to  arrest  the 
attention  or  alarm  the  fears  of  the  South.  I  tell  you  nay. 
From  a  contemptible  club  of  zealots,  it  has  become  a  well 
organized  party,  at  one  time  exercising  a  controlling  influ- 
ence over  local  politics,  and  at  another  making  itself  felt 
in  the  national  councils  of  the  country.  It  has  subsidized 
the  press  for  the  abuse  of  us,  polluted  the  pulpit  with  its 
anathemas  of  us,  aye  laid  its  sacrilegious  hand  upon  Church- 
es around  whose  altar  men  of  the  same  faith  were  wont  to 
worship  but  to  rend  them,  and  claiming  for  itself  an  identi- 
ty with  religion,  unfurls  its  sacred  standard  and  calls  upon 
all  Christendom  to  rally  around  it. 

Nor  let  it  be  said  that  the  fanatics  are  few  in  number, 
for  if  this  were  true  they  are  ever  active  and  expert  in  the 
accomplishment  of  their  nefarious  purpose,  and  meet  with 
but  little  of  energetic  opposition  from  those  around  them. 
It  was  the  sentiment  of  Rome's  great  orator,  '^that  the  bad 
will  always  attack  with  far  more  spirit  than  the  good  will 
defend,  sound  principles.  The  republic,"  said  he,  is  as- 
sailed with  far  more  force  and  contumacy,  than  it  is  de- 
fended, because  bold  and  profligate  men  are  impelled  by  a 
nod,  and  move  of  their  own  accord  against  it;  but  I  know 
not  how  it  happens,  that  good  men  are  always  more  tardy. 
They  neglect  the  beginning  of  things  and  only  rouse  them- 
selves in  the  last  extremity,"'  And  who  are  they  that  thus 
molest  our  peace  and  invade  our  rights  ?  Friends  of  the 
slave  ?  They  are  forging  fetters  to  bind  him  in  a  bondage 
from  which  naught  but  death  can  free  him.  Friends  of 
the  country  ?  They  are  daily  slriking  at  its  heart  with 
the  murdcr(.)us  ;irm  nf       lunnyciclc,  and  seem  resolvcnl  to 


t-oiuiiiiio  the  atUick  iiiitil  tliey  liMve  driven  life  from  every 
vital  vein  which  animates  it.  Let  them  not  talk  to  us  of 
nuUification — the  doctrine  of  liberation  which  they  pro- 
mulgate, is  a  direct  violation  of  the  national  compact — let 
them  not  declaim  against  secession,  for  by  conduct  such  as 
theirs,  the  process  of  separation  ha^^  been  originated,  and 
unless  checked  on  its  way,  will  soon  reach  its  consumma- 
tion. Like  treacherous  allies,  they  have  played  us  false. 
They  have  kept  but  Punic  faith  with  us,  that  faith,  which 
more  than  all  the  arms  of  conquering  Rome,  laid  Carthage 
in  the  dust.  With  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear,  they 
have  broken  it  to  the  hope,  and  we  now  find  ourselves  con- 
federates of  a  Union  wdiich  every  Southern  heart  knows 
could  never  have  been  formed  if  the  hostilities  of  the  pre- 
sent period  had  been  waged  against  us  in  the  memorable 
days  of  '89. 

And  is  it  not  time  for  the  South  to  awake  to  a  sense  of 
the  danger  which  menaces  her  ?  With  all  this  enginery 
of  evil  pointed  at  her  life,  to  which  I  have  adverted,  and 
more  than  all,  with  the  almost  universal  public  opinion  of 
the  North  in  moral  resistance  against  her  great  institution 
— that  public  opinion,  which,  when  misdirected,  is  a  Mo- 
lock  of  destruction,  shall  she  supinely  sleep  on  'till  she 
can  no  longer  command  her  destiny  ?    Forbid  it  Freemen! 

IIow  stand  you  men  of  the  South  this  day  in  numerical 
power  ?  Turn  to  the  late  census  of  your  country  and  there 
jou  will  find  the  startling  fact  that  we  now  count  a  federal 
population  of  more  than  23,000,000— that ,  near  14,000,000 
of  this  number  belonor  to  the  Free  States,  and  little  more 
than  9,000,000  to  the  Slave  States.  Superadd  to  this,  the 
<'.onstant  annual  influx  of  that  alien  and  hostile  population 
which  crowd  to  our  shores,  with  no  feeling  in  sympathy 
with  our  social  condition,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  perceive 
^hc  impending  peril.    The  sAvord  of  Damocles  overhangs. 


17 


lis,  an  ill  an  unsuspecting  hour,  it  may  fall  upon  our  dr- 
fenceless  heads. 

And  where  are  we  in  tliis  exlremity  to  look  for  protec- 
tion but  to  ourselves?  Where  are  we,  the  masters  of  these 
millions,  and  as  such  tlieir  protectors,  to  find  security  for 
them,  bat  in  our  united  resolution  to  shield  them  from  the 
experiments  of  Fanaticism  ?  Where  are  we  to  fmd  hope 
for  the  perpetuity  of  this  glorious  confederacy  of  States 
but  in  the  union  of  the  South  for  the  sake  of  the  Viiion. 

These  are  inquiries  which  should  assume  a  cogent  char- 
acter when  addressed  to  the  Southern  mind,  for  they  in- 
volve the  great  question  of  our  section,  and  are  not  to  be 
evaded  by  flippant  flourishes  of  rhetoric  upon  the  great- 
ness of  our  country,  or  words — mere  words  of  boastful 
confidence  on  the  perpetuity  of  our  Union.  A  remedy  for 
the  wrongs  we  are  suffering  must  be  found,  and  may  Hea- 
ven avert  the  day  when  we  shall  be  compelled  to  seek  it  in 
disunion.  Whether  you  are  believers  or  infidels  in  the 
doctrine  of  secession,  I  ask  not  to  knowv  nor  is  it  any  part 
of  that  mission  upon  which  patriotism  has  sent  me  here  to- 
day, to  argue  out  this  much  vexed  question.  But  the  day 
may  come — aye,  most  assuredly  will  come,  unless  the  signs 
of  the  present  largely  belie  the  future,  when  we  shall  have 
to  raise  ourselves  to  the  height  of  this  great  argument — 
when  power  will  retreat  to  its  original" — when  the  des- 
poiled and  dishonored  sons  of  the  South  may  be  compell- 
ed to  take  up  the  weaporns  of  defence  and  strike  for  their 
outraged  rights. 

Strike  "till  the  last  armed  foe  expires. 
Strike  for  their  altars  and  their  firea  ; 
Strike  for  the  green  graves  of  their  sires, 
God — and  their  native  land 

1  am  no  alarmist — I  raise  no  panicidal  arm  against  my 
eountry.  Gladly  would  I  make  this  Union  an  eternal 
league  of  love,  but  1  should  be  guilty  of  disloyalty  to  the 


is 


Itiiui  ui'  our  couiuioii  birlli  if  I  williliuld  the  wncc  ut'  warn- 
ing at  this  great  crisis  in  our  condition.  Nor  let  it  be  sup- 
posed that  they  are  ever  tlie  best  friends  of  the  country 
whose  patriotism  is  so  sublimated  in  its  nature,  that  their 
minds  are  hxed  in  the  belief  that  nauf^ht  but  un mingled 
jiood  can  hereafter  result  from  a  union  which  has  hitherto 
been  so  prolific  of  blessings  to  our  land — who  can  discern 
nothing  of  wrong  to  the  South  in  the  past,  nor  of  danger 
to  her  great  interests  in  the  future.  Such  men  are  not  the 
true  guardians  of  the  republic,  and  if  we  but  follow  their 
example,  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  day  will  come,  when 
we  shall  be  roused  from  our  dream  of  fancied  security  but 
to  witness  a  reality  which  will  be  fraught  with  the  wreck 
of  our  every  hope.  In  order  then  to  avert  the  danger 
which  now  stands  so  menacingly  before  us,  we  must  con- 
front and  conquer  it — we  must  maintain  our  ascendancy 
over  those  Pharisa-ical  purists  who  thank  God  that  they 
are  not  as  other  men  are — slaveholders.  We  must  hold 
fast  our  control  over  this  institution  or  we  are  undone.  We 
must  not  permit  our  rights  to  be  kept  in  abeyance  at  the 
will  of  others,  nor  hold  any  position  inferior  to  that  of  free- 
men in  the  assertion  of  them.  Such  should  ever  be  our 
course,  and  if  we  do  not  take  and  keep  it,  the  day  will  in- 
evitably arrive  when  the  fair  and  fertile  South  with  her  di 
minished,  if  not  destroyed  staples,  and  her  universally  de- 
preciated interests,  shall  become  a  wilderness  of  want  aud 
wo.  All  that  we  ask  is  that  the  integrity  of  the  national 
compact  may  be  preserved  inviolate.  Give  us  back  the 
primitive  purity  of  the  Government.  Reanimate  the  dead 
body  of  the  Constitution  with  the  spirit  that  was  breathed 
into  it  by  those  who  first  spoke  it  into  life,  and  our  chafed 
spirits  will  be  soothed — the  unclenched  hand  of  fellowship 
extended  again  in  amity,  and  our  hearts  hallowed  to  the 
love  of  the  Union — that  Union,  which  in  solemn  covenant 
guaranteed  the  protection  of  our  interests,  and  which 


19 


should  never  forget  that  great  principle  of  Jiborlv,  ttiat  al- 
legiance and  protection  are  reciprocal. 

I  repeat  then,  let  us  be  united  upon  this  momentous 
measure — let  us  not  deliberate  on  its  great  issues  with  di- 
vided counsels,  lest  by  oar  discord  the  enemy  is  embolden- 
ed in  his  aggressions,  and  we  become  the  instruments  of 
our  own  dishonor  and  destruction.    We  revolt  '\  iih  horror 
from  the  Demon  of  Disunion — let  iis  have  care  lest  we 
find  for  him  an  ally  in  the  Demon  of  Division  among 
ourselves.    It  may  be  that  some  of  those  who  feel  that  the 
preservation  of  this  institution  is  to  them  as  to  us  of  vital 
importance,  are  too  a}>t  to  make  their  judgment  wait  upon 
their  passions,  and  in  the  rashness  of  their  resentment  are 
eager  for  the  adoption  of  a  course  which  bodes  no  good  to 
our  common  cause.    Already  has  our  nearest  sister  on  our 
Southern  border,  given  fearful  indication  of  her  determina- 
tion to  assume  an  independent  position  before  the  country 
— a  position  which  can  never  be  defended  by  that  arm 
wdiich  she  alone  expects  to  wield  lor  its  defence,    if,  how- 
ev^er,  we  cannot  lend  her  our  co-operation,  let  us  not  exas- 
perate her  by  our  denunciations — let  us  strive  to  win  her 
back  to  better  counsels — let  us  hope  that  her  proud  spirit 
will  yet  yield  to  clearer-sighted  self-interests  and  the  kindred 
sympathies  of  her  sisters.    And  more  than  all  let  us  not 
stigmatize  her  sons  as  traitors. 

Which  of  the  gallant  tier  of  the  Old  Thirteen  has  writ- 
ten for  herself  a  higher  name  on  fame's  unmouldering  pil- 
lar Where's  the  State  that  during  each  and  all  of  our 
national  conflicts  has  sought  and  found  for  herself  in  the 
language  of  her  Butler,  whose  martyr  spirit  went  up  from 
the  plains  of  Mexico,  "a  more  conspicuous  place  in  the 
picture'"  of  martial  glory.  Let  us  not  then,  charge  upon 
her  the  crime  of  treason,  because  she  exhibits  more  of  va- 
lor than  discretion.  Her  destiny  may  be  our  destiny — her 
A'i('tor\'  or  defeat,  oiirolor\'  or  siiamo.     We  should  renuMii- 


•20 


ber  that  we  oflon  misname  that  treason,  which  is  but  an 
exalted  sentiment  of  liberty,  a  developement  of  that  feeling 
which  never  permits  a  free  people  to  prefer  their  existence 
to  their  honor.  Your  Washington  once  was  loyal  to  his 
King,  but  when  that  King  became  a  tyrant,  he  becaaie  a 
traitor  to  him  and  wrested  trom  him  his  dominion  over  that 
free  and  fair  land  which  we  exult  to  call  our  country. — 
When  in  May,  1765,  the  celebrated  resolutions  against  the 
Stamp  Act  were  discussed  in  the  Assembly  of  Virginia, 
who  carried  them  successfully  through  that  then  loyal  bo- 
dy ?  Who  could  have  saved  her  from  the  deep  dishonor  of 
approving  such  an  outrage  on  her  rights,  but  her  own 
forest  born  Demosthenes,"  the  immortal  Henry.  With 
the  quick  sagacity  of  a  patriot  he  discerned  the  iniquitous 
tyranny  of  the  measure — trumpet  tongued,  he  thundered 
out  his  denunciations  of  royalty,  and  soaring  aloft  on  the 
eagle-wing  of  his  eloquence,  exclaimed,  Csesar  liad  his 
Brutus,  Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell,  and  George  the 
Third— ('•  Treason  !"  cried  the  Speaker.  "Treason!  Trea- 
son!" echoed  the  House;) — may  proiit  by  their  example. 
If  this  be  Treason  make  the  most  of  it."  And  mark  it, 
the  Treason  of  that  day,  was  the  parent  of  the  Indepen- 
dence which  we  this  day  commemorate.  Away  then  with 
the  words  of  traitor  on  the  one  hand  and  submissionist  on 
the  other,  w^ords  of  goading  reproach  as  they  are,  words 
which  only  tend  to  beget  the  treason  which  we  deprecate, 
or  to  debase  us  by  that  submission  which  w^e  abhor. 

But,  my  friends,  I  forbear  to  press  a  theme  so  tragic  as 
that  which  tells  of  the  dismemberment  of  my  country- — 
and  believe  me  it  is  for  the  love  I  bear  my  country,  that  1 
have  thus  this  day  addressed  you  on  your  position,  your  du- 
ties and  your  danger,  in  order  that  by  your  union  you  may 
overawe  aggression,  and  so  escape  the  peril  of  tiie  future. 
I  strike  another,  a  hoUer,  and  a  happier  chord,  more  in  har- 
mony witli  this,  the  hour  of  our  c(^]obration.    1  ascenfi  to 


that  higli  summit  to  wbicii  the  greatness  ol"  my  country 
has  advanced,  and  gazing  thence  upon  creation's  map, 
vainly  do  I  look  for  any  land  so  bright,  so  brilliant  in  its 
past  and  present,  as  this  goodly  heritage  which  God  has 
given  us.  With  a  commerce  wliich  puts  its  girdle  round 
the  globe — with  an  agriculture  which  smiles  on  every  hand 
and  pours  from  the  horn  of  her  abundance  the  amplest 
blessings,  alike  for  us  here  and  for  the  famishing  sons  of 
earth  elsewhere— with  an  industry  which  animates  every 
energy,  and  makes  glad  every  hill  and  plain  and  valley, 
who  can  wish  to  mar  the  enchantment  of  a  scene  like  this?  I 
turn  to  the  Constitution  of  my  country  as  it  came  from  the 
hands  of  our  fathers,  a  magnilicent  creation,  com})lete  in 
every  form  and  lineament  of  liberty,  and  feel  that  vainly 
may  the  world  hope  to  behold  the  Utopia  of  the  specu- 
lative politician,  unless  its  realization  is  found  in  our  well 
organized  system  of  government.  Who  then,  can  look 
out  upon  this  bright  day  of  our  prosperity — this  Union, 
which  like  a  "  steadfast  planet"  has  beamed  so  benignly 
for  us  and  for  the  world,  and  not  seifd  up  his  daily  litany 
to  Heaven,  that  the  dark  night  of  disunion  may  never  de- 
scend upon  it,  to  shroud  its  glory  ?  I  catch  a  chee ring- 
omen  in  that  great  measure  of  peace  which  the  patriotic 
wisdom  of  the  country  has  so  recently  matured,  and  hailing 
it  as  a  bow  of  promise  for  our  land,  my  "  faith  becomes  tri- 
umphant o'er  ray  fears." 

Let  us  then,  wdiile  with  unblenching  front  we  stand  up 
for  our  rights,  turn  no  deaf  ear  to  the  invocations  of  patri- 
otism, and  still  maintain  our  fidelity  to  the  ComprGmise, 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  Let  us  still  rally  under 
that  starrv  standard  which  has  so  lono:  covered  us  as  a 
mantle,  in  peace,  and  which  has  so  often  waved  victoriously 
for  us  in  war.  God  grant  that  as  an  unbroken  brother- 
hood of  freemen,  we  may  ever  gaze  on  that  bird  and  ban- 
ner which  have  been  so  long  nni1e  f — tirat  we  niav  never 


live  to  see  that  tree  of  liberty  which  was  pkinted  by  our 
fathers,  watered  by  the  blood  of  their  sons,  and  that  be- 
neath the  blessed  dew^s  of  peace  it  may  gather  strength  to 
contend  with  every  storm. 

Long  in  its  shade  may  children's  children  come, 
And  welcome  earth's  poor  wanderers  to  a  home; 
Long  may  it  live,  and  every  blast  defy, 
'Till  time's  last  whirlwind  sweeps  the  vaulted  sky." 


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